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Trump Roasts Starbucks For Red Coffee Cup

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump criticized Starbucks for not having the words "Merry Christmas" on the cup. Even though Starbucks hasn't printed those words on the cups for several years, the two-toned, minimalist red coffee cup instead of the usual designs of snowflakes and ornaments led to some expressing their anger on social media. (Published Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2015)

Starbucks is unveiling its holiday coffee cups for this year and appears to be bringing back snowflakes, candy canes and other holiday symbols, after last year's more subdued red cups caused an uproar from critics who said the chain was part of a so-called war on Christmas.

On Nov. 10, the coffee chain will use 13 different designs created by customers on their red cups. In a prepared statement, the company noted that the designs were chosen from 1,200 submissions they received from around the world.

“We were surprised and inspired by the amount of incredible art submitted by our customers. The designs were beautiful, expressive and engaging,” said Dena Blevins, creative director, Starbucks Global Creative Studio. “We quickly realized there was potential to use the customer-created art for our holiday cups.”

The chain is marking the launch with a buy-one-get-one-free deal on holiday beverages from 2-5 p.m. Thursday-Sunday at certain locations.

“We hope that this year’s red holiday cup designs express the shared spirit of the holidays as told by our customers,” Sharon Rothstein, Starbucks' global chief marketing officer, said in the same prepared statement.

It has released holiday cups every year since 1997. The outcry over 2015's plainer red cup grew after now President-elect Donald Trump suggested boycotting the chain.

Last week, the Seattle-based company unveiled a new green cup ahead of Election Day that it said was "a symbol of unity." Three days later, Starbucks released a 30-second online video that said its holiday cups were returning Nov. 10.